Negotiation Works' Survey of Participants Demonstrates Long Term Impact
Forty-one previous Negotiation Works participants took part in our long-term survey between June 2022 and August 2024, and our dedicated data volunteers analyzed the responses to determine what participants remember several months out from the classes, how they have used negotiation strategies in their own lives to manage disputes and advocate for their own needs, and how they are doing, generally, in various areas of their lives.
The forty-one participants who responded to the survey remembered with striking specificity the concepts taught in the classes and their significance. When asked which negotiation strategies they remember from the course, their most frequent responses included the following:
BATNA (their “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement,” or their “Plan B”): “I use the BATNA concept often because it allows me to have a backup plan to any strategy.”
Perspective-taking: “I always think of the other person's perspective and figure out what we have in common.”
Listening: “The most important thing I learned is to listen fully to someone else's needs.”
Many of the participants highlighted the role plays as having been especially useful for their learning concepts in class.
Participants also reported using negotiation in several domains in their lives. Personal relationships, financial matters, and employment top their lists as the areas in which they use negotiation strategies most frequently, and they identify active listening as the skill they have found to be most useful in their daily lives.
Specific examples cited include using negotiation strategies in managing team projects at work, obtaining a change in their employment schedule, sharing grievances with their landlord, presenting their poor credit history to a housing provider, persuading a residential program to let them switch roommates, and advocating to get services for their daughter.
Finally, survey respondents report relative stability via several measures of well-being:
Over 97% report having acceptable, good, or very good personal relationships
Over 95% report acceptable, good, or very good physical and mental health
Close to 80% report having good or acceptable financial security
Over 70% report good or very good housing situations
Over 60% report good or very good employment situations
The results of this long-term survey and others are vital in demonstrating how our participants use the skills they learn in our classes at home, at work, and in their communities.
“The hard work of our data analyst team, including Eric Bloedorn, Yanqing Lei, Varun Sharma, Shubhangi Tak, and Zahra Yarali, and our intern team of Mihret Willis and Julia Davis was instrumental in helping us assess this data, which provides an important look at the impact of our work months after participants take our classes,” Melissa Reinberg, executive director of NW, said.